Things we used to have...

[Rwy in Sight]

This afternoon, I remembered the rigid orthogonal beauty case my mother used to carry on the short domestic legs we flew back in the 70's - which would be completely unacceptable on an airliner's cabin today. Full of liquid cosmetics it would make the day for the security.

What others items commonly found in the airliners cabin in the 50's to 70's are now banned never to be allowed again?

[Avitor]

Hopefully those who caused the ban

[ShyTorque]

I remembered the rigid orthogonal beauty case my mother used to carry on the short domestic legs we flew back in the 70's

I remember those.


My mother had short domestic legs, too.

[Rwy in Sight]

Thanks for the answers both of you. Shy do I read a case of grammar police although it seems I am very economical with commas.

[TURIN]

Flight Engineers?

:E

[16down2togo]

Ashtrays used as such!

[Herod]

Unlocked flight-deck doors.

[b1lanc]

I actually dressed up cowboy style for a flight to visit grandparents farm. I had the Vigilante double holster set with boots, spurs, hat, chaps etc. that my dad had just brought back from a business trip to Tucson. Hey, I was six and thought it was cool. We touched down in Cleveland in quite a breeze. Hat flew off as I came out onto the air stairs and got hung up on the nose gear after nearly getting stuck on the port inner prop, mechanics and UAL ground staff running after it.

And yes, my mom had one of those hard case three level beauty cases on board. Wouldn't surprise me if it is still buried in the basement someplace.

At 5'2" my mother also had short legs and I can say she was domestic:)

[Wander00]

b1lanc- I think it was in the "mother" job description in those days. Mind you I still find it hard to believe that my quite timid mother used to go round putting out incendiary bombs with buckets of sand

[BEagle]

Caledonian Girls

m1Oge5Mmq4g

A great start to holiday flights in the '70s!

Proper catering:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/Comet_zpsgi7z2xyc.jpg (http://s14.photobucket.com/user/nw969/media/Comet_zpsgi7z2xyc.jpg.html)

[Lantern10]

Adequate space?

[dc9-32]

respect.....

[ShyTorque]

Those were the good old days when the airport experience and the flight were a pleasurable part of the holiday.

And the gentlemen had to wear a jacket and tie to fly.

[chevvron]

Flight Engineers?

:E
Radio operators and navigators too.

[Wander00]

and no tacky little plastic bags, and the car hire concessions were not miles from the terminal

[TCU]

Junior Jet Club badge and log book

[Wander00]

And you could bowl in was it Queen's Building and go airside for coffee and not get shot

[emeritus]

Log books , as mentioned by TCU.

Used to enjoy filling out the young'uns log books. Some of them had notched up a lot of miles, especially the school boarders.

Most interesting one was an 80 something American lady who loved flying and had about 6 logbooks all taped together. Earliest entries were on PanAm clippers across the Pacific. She had just about been everywhere and on just about every aircraft.

Emeritus

[Anilv]

I really wish we still had those little sling bags with airline logos...those made of some plastic vinyl material with metal zips.

Anil

[brakedwell]

Well dressed and well behaved passengers.

[goudie]

Vibration! Never missed the old piston engine driven airliners.

[PAXboy]

Anil I really wish we still had those little sling bags with airline logos...those made of some plastic vinyl material with metal zips.There are modern reproductions of these available on a well known auction/purchase site. Use the search term 'retro' with airline bags and there are many, including from now defunct airlines. Many of the adverts use the word vintage to gain more hits but they are reproductions and nothing wrong with that.

I agree with goudie about vibration to which I would add 'altitude'. I well remember a sector in a Viscount going round the edge of an African thunderstorm as we could not get above or, it turned out, far enough away! :yuk:

ps My 'log book' is sketchy in the early days but my first flights in a Viscount were around 1970 (which included the above that year in Air Rhodesia, SAY [as was] to JNB) and the last flight was Dec 86 on LHR~IOM before the introduction of the 146 the following summer.

[BEagle]

Ahh, Vickers!

My first ever airline flight was in a Vickers Vibrator from Gatwick to Gibraltar with BEA. Mid-week Tourist night flight being the cheapest option; we were going to Gib. as it was inside the Sterling area and got round some stupid government currency restriction....

Delayed at Gatwick due to an air conditioning snag. BEA said we could have a ham or a cheese sandwich, plus coffee or a coke. But not a ham sandwich and a coke unless we paid the extra (about 10d).....

My mother opened one of her duty-free cigarette packs during the wait - and some Himmler-clone from The Revenue pounced and demanded that duty was paid on the opened packet and that the 200 carton should be sealed. About half a crown, I think....

Finally out to the aeroplane, to find no seat allocation - so it took a bit of negotiation for parents to sit with their children. We set off to Gib at a sedate pace; of course a flight deck visit was allowed and I stayed there until top of drop for Gib.

Overnight in Gib, then the ferry to La Linea and a bus to Malaga through quaint little villages such as Marbella, Fuengirola and Torremolinos. Then another bus to the villa we'd booked for our holiday at Almunecar.

Trip back was more fun; my mother had firmly decided that she wasn't going on any more Spanish buses, so the 4 of us went all the way to La Linea in a Seat 600 my father had gone to collect from Granada.

Gib to Gatwick was another late night flight after the trip across the bay from La Linea where we'd dropped the Seiscientos. Of course the inbound passengers knew full well that no seats were pre-allocated, so there was a mad dash across the tarmac to grab the best seats.... We arrived at Gatwick at some early hour in rain and turbulence - then a long drive home to Somerset in the family Zephyr 6 (looong before the days of the M3, of course...and most of the A303 was single carriageway!).

In those days you almost needed a holiday to recover from the holiday. But the Vanguard was immaculate in its BEA markings and the crew were very friendly and welcoming.

Sadly flight deck visits are things of the past too....

[Wander00]

Almuneca is still a nice place to go - we were there in June/July, before and after eldest son's wedding (first time, at 44!). Wedding held at Palacete du Cazulas up the road through Otivar. Hotel Casablanca, family run and almost on the sea front by the castle. great food.

[Alpine Flyer]

Overhead racks or overhead bins with net-type "doors" (in a DC-9).

Movies on reels in projectors pulled down from the ceiling.

A complimentary 4-pack of Marlboro in business class.

Onboard magazines showing "special" meal choices.

Plastic trays with fitting cups and plates which as kids we used to take home and re-fill for cold dinner occasionally.

Greenery or even trees between terminal and apron (still visible at smaller eastern and southern airports but mostly gone elsewhere).

[noflynomore]

I'm still trying to figure out what on earth an orthoganal beauty case is.

Is it a case of orthoganal beauty - a Picasso-esque depiction perhaps, all straight lines and right angles or maybe a make-up case in the shape of a square (Masonic connection?)

Flummoxed.

[BEagle]

...or maybe a make-up case in the shape of a square (Masonic connection?)


Only if you are travelling from the west to the east...:hmm:

[noflynomore]

As I feared, BEagle, the original meaning is lost and Orthoganal is merely a substitute.

[Centaurus]

No cockpit checklists. It was all in the head:ok:

[Prangster]

Trying to stop dad going puce as the VLA behind us kept calling the aircraft a VIS count

[BEagle]

An ex-colleague who'd been on Argonauts after leaving the RAF told me how it used to be...

The crew would breakfast together at a time of the Captain's choosing - they would satnd up and greet him with a "Good morning, Sir" when he came down from his luxury room. They would leave for the airport when HE decided.

On arrival at the airport, the briefing would be formal and comprehensive. Only when the Captain decided, would they proceed to the aeroplane. There would then be a lengthy session with the ground engineer who would brief the Captain of any quirks of the aeroplane and engines through the flight engineer. Once the crew was happy, the Captain would advise the ground handling agent that they were ready for the passengers.

Years later he got into trouble with ba management for telling the cleaners to get off his VC10 after the passengers had disembarked - he would tell them when they could get on and it wouldn't be until after he'd signed off the technical log! "You're one of the last of the Barons", he was told - "Yes, and proud of it - this airline once had standards!" came his reply.

[X-Brat]

Beagle,

What inducement do you have to leave the east and go to the west?

[PAXboy]

My Great Aunt told me of travelling by air from the UK to South Africa. She said marvelous it was when the flying boats started and how much faster it was than the ship - a mere five days for the trip!

It was something like Train from London to Southampton. Then daylight flying only via France, Italian Lakes, The Nile, Lake Victoria, The Vaal River and Table Bay. Each evening they were in hotels and, as described above, the Captain ruled supreme and sat at the head of the table.

I forgot to ask her about the turbulence of being at low altitude. Apart that, it sounded great!

[pax britanica]

Not really on board but what about those big cardboard cut outs with stickers on for the seats--point out what you want from whats elft and the check in folk then stuck it on your boarding pass.

.Also on some flights they still gave out boiled sweets to suck and help with the pressure changes, would have suited EZ as they were usually orange coloured barley sugar - that would be the catering nowadays.

You couldn't go bowling in the terminal but there was the Airport Bowl on the Bath Road on the north side of the airport-was it next to the Arial Hotel (the round one)

[Wander00]

Remember the bowl well

[Innominate]

It seems to be still there About - Airport Bowl (http://airport-bowl.com/about/)

[Wander00]

I see to remember one on the airport too, but then it was a long time ago

[Rwy in Sight]

I'm still trying to figure out what on earth an orthoganal beauty case is.

Is it a case of orthoganal beauty - a Picasso-esque depiction perhaps, all straight lines and right angles or maybe a make-up case in the shape of a square (Masonic connection?)

Flummoxed.
This is what it looks similar to what my mother had:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/266077920/vintage-train-case-samsonite-silhouette?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=hard%20sided%20beauty%20case&ref=sr_gallery_1

[ShyTorque]

Rickets, scarlet fever, bread and dripping.

[Fris B. Fairing]

what about those big cardboard cut outs with stickers on for the seats--point out what you want from whats left and the check in folk then stuck it on your boarding pass.

They looked very pretty at the start of checkin but after a few pax requested seat changes they became a real mess. Stickers had to be peeled off boarding passes and stapled back on to the seat chart. Your average stapler did not have enough reach to place the sticker in its original location so returned stickers were usually reattached in the margins of the chart. With one seat chart serving several checkin counters it became a centralised feeding frenzy. The largest sticker seat chart I saw was for a DC-10. Printed in full colour it must have cost a fortune to produce.

[noflynomore]

A nice G & T to sip as you taxiied in on the last sector.
Divvying up unused miniatures in the crewroom post flight.
FOs who didn't whip out a novel at top of climb and start reading without even the courtesy of asking first.
FOs who wouldn't dream of reading a novel in flight.
Captains who wouldn't even let you read a paper.
Captains who expected you to happily go along with them never doing a checklist.
Hotel suites for Captains.
Cabin crew who didn't swarm the desk to get their hotel key before the Captain.
Layovers downroute.
Edible crew food.
Car parking less than half an hour from the office.
Chief Pilots who actually flew.
Knowing the Chief Pilot's name.
Recognising his face if you were ever to meet him in person.
Ditto CEO
Ops dept you could phone without waiting ages in a queue.
Rosters fit for human beings.
Clearly speaking the name of your airline instead of mumbling when asked who you fly for.
Uniforms that weren't seconds from a budget bus drivers' supplier.
Open flight deck door.
Yummy mummies on the flight deck.
Captain in charge of his aircraft during turnarounds.
Staff travel on empty seats.
Leave bookable less than 18mths in advance.

I could go on. And on. And on.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

"You're one of the last of the Barons", he was told - "Yes, and proud of it - this airline once had standards!" came his reply.

Would that be the same type of 'Baron' that would have had apoplexy had they been introduced to the concept of CRM?

And then there's the (in)famous tale of the VC10 skipper at Manchester who simply ignored the presence on the dispatcher on the flight deck:

"Papers to sign please, Skip"
No response from 'himself' in the LH seat.

"'Scuse me skip, could you sign the papers please?"
Still no response.

After a couple of further attempts the FO intervened:

"I think the c*nt is waiting for you to call him 'Sir'".

That sort of thing I think aviation is far better off without.

[evansb]

"Things we used to have"? Cars that required maintenance every 3 months.. I truly miss that.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Telephone calls almost obliterated by crackles and hisses and sounds of frying bacon. And you had to rent your phone from GPO, and wait months to be connected, often on a 'party line' shared with next door.

Don't miss that.

Oh, and dirty old British Rail with it music hall joke trains, and staff who thought the railway was their train set, spoiled only by those pesky pax.

[Stanwell]

"Things we used to have"? Cars that required maintenance every 3 months.. I truly miss that.
My 1973 Bedford van requires maintenance, of one kind or other, daily.
We have what some people would call an 'intimate relationship'.

Then there's my wife - but that's another story.

[Discorde]

Oh, and dirty old British Rail with it music hall joke trains, and staff who thought the railway was their train set, spoiled only by those pesky pax.

Many of British Railways' problems could be traced to chronic underfunding in the post-war years. When the rest of Europe was re-equipping with electric and diesel traction the UK continued to manufacture steam locos because they burnt cheap and plentiful British coal. I would agree with those who suggest that the majority of BR staff were conscientious and professional in their work despite lack of Government support. But it could also be pointed out that some of BR's problems arose from misuse of power by the unions.

Things we used to have:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmSA0W3mkn4